Establishment of a network of community telecenters in Jordan.

Jordan is embarking on a series of efforts to help the country become a regional leader and internationally recognized as an exporter of Information and Communication technologies (ICT) related products. Steps are being taken to increase investment in ICT related industries, further develop the needed human resources, and establish solid linkages between the educational system and the ICT industry. In addition, the Government is currently preparing a strategy for e-government which aims to provide government services on-line. His Majesty King Abdullah II is the leading advocate of a comprehensive integration of ICT into the socio-economic development of his country.

Within this context and in order to ensure that human resources are developed in all parts of the Kingdom and that ICT is in fact used to provide a better quality of life, a national strategy to establish a network of Jordanian Information Technology Community Centers (JITCC) covering the entire country. UNDP is the principal partner of the Jordanian Government in this programme. which will involve private sector and civil society as well. UNDP is assisting the Government in planning the physical rollout of the centers, the strategies on content development and provision, training and outreach to the communities, and establishing business plans to ensure economic-social stainability of the Centers. Volunteers will work in the JITCCs to help them provide the following services:

• serve as a training center to familiarize community members with ICTs and its use for various development applications (health, education, support to SMEs, agriculture, etc.)
• provide specialized programs and services which will address the information/development needs of the local community, specifically women and (unemployed) youth, through access to personal computers, internet, software, and other information technology tools on a walk-in basis.
• disseminate information to rural areas through the provision of easy access to data and information within the framework of the National Information System.

The initial objective is to establish a pilot network composed of 15 Centers, eventually growing to over 500. Volunteers affiliated with UNITeS have been involved since the start of the large programme, working in the first Center opened in Safawi, in the Northern Badia, a desert area in the north-east of the country (check story on Computerworld, October 16, 2000), and in providing expertise gained in another telecenter project in Egypt.